Cold
Brew Coffee Takes Off - the rising star in summer drinks is cold brew coffee
with reports from the US suggesting an 80% rise in sales. Cold brewing involves
the use of cold water and produces a sweeter blend than traditional hot brew
coffee. Iced coffee is a popular summer drink in Australia with one South
Australian brand reported to outsell Coca Cola. Some iced coffees are produced
by cooling a hot brew coffee which is quite different to cold brew. Coffee
producers love the cold brew because it uses much more coffee and opens up new
markets in a traditionally quieter summer season.
Back
To Neighbourhood Stores - one of the most successful global cosmetics chains,
Sephora, is experimenting with a more traditional bricks-n-mortar store in
Brooklyn. The store is on a Main Street, not in a shopping centre, and it
focuses on personal relationships with “advisers”. Being a smaller store, it
doesn't try to stock the full Sephora range although they are available through
an online facility. There are no cash registers, staff use mobile phones to
transact sales, and there are special touches like “advisers” taking a photo of
the customers face, linking with the products purchased, and then sent to the
customer as a reference for future transactions. It is all about “experiential
retail”, creating a personal buying experience that is only available in bricks-n-mortar
stores.
Identifying
Unhappy Customers - one of the main complaints about larger department stores
is that you can never find anyone to assist you and that can lead to anger and
frustration. Well Walmart have an interesting solution - put on more staff? -
no, Walmart are investigating the use of facial recognition technology that
will alert staff to angry facial expressions and direct staff to respond.
Instant
Pickup- another recent innovation from Walmart is pickup towers which are
conveniently located within the store. One of the main attractions appears to
be that you can browse products online, and rather than wait for delivery, you
simply go to the store, scan a barcode for your product at the tier and within
45 seconds your item is presented to you at the tower. No running around
endless aisles looking for your purchase. Sort of like a robotic concierge and
all part of the browse or buy online and pickup in store convenience.
McDonalds Looks Outside Shopping Centres – according to the Sydney
Morning Herald, McDonalds are looking to airports, railways, and highways for
expansion rather than shopping centres. As shopping centres look to increase
their food content from around 10% of
stores to more than 30%, the competition within centres becomes more
challenging. McDonalds said they were primarily focused on restaurants with
drive throughs.
Consumer Confidence Unlikely To Change Much – as monthly consumer confidence
figures continue their roller coaster ride of ups and downs, the underlying
trend shows little change. ANZ’s Head of Australian Economics recently said –
“We believe the upside in sentiment will likely be
capped, given soft wage growth, high levels of household debt and a slowdown in
house price growth,”
Husband Storage Pods - The
Global Harbour Mall in Shanghai has introduced what it calls “Husband Storage
Pods” designed to entertain husbands while their wives engage in the time
consuming process of shopping.
The pods
are essentially a mini video games centre that include a chair, computer,
monitor, and game controllers. We can see an application for these at QVM
although keeping traders out may be a problem.